System and method for automating customer relations in a communications environment

ABSTRACT

A system and method are disclosed for automating network performance to a customer support department that includes a passive listening device configured to monitor portions of a communication network. A performance database may be coupled to the passive listening device and configured to store network performance data. A customer relations module may be included and configured to receive a subscriber inquiry and to identify at least one monitored component of a communication network that affects the subscriber. The module may retrieve performance data on one or more components of the communication network to provide customer-specific communication performance data to the subscriber and/or the agent assisting the subscriber.

BACKGROUND

In today's competitive communications market, service providers strive to improve system performance. Although near perfect reliability and extraordinary speeds are goals of service providers, often unplanned and unexpected phenomena degrade system performance. When a customer feels that performance of their communications system is less than average, they often call a service center to request information, determine if there is an outage, or see if there is work in process to solve their problem. Often customer equipment fails, yet the customer will blame the service provider and inquire whether the service provider is having problems.

Communication service providers seek to efficiently address these concerned subscribers. However, service providers often lack the available resources to identify problems that are specific to subscribers. In fact, a single subscriber may be provided with physical connections and signal processing from many different providers within a network. The vast network of communication systems not only lacks detection equipment but the ability to communicate detected system problems. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved customer service system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

It will be appreciated that, for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the Figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements. Embodiments incorporating teachings of the present disclosure are shown and described with respect to the drawings presented herein, in which:

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram of a communication system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of a method for providing customer service for a communication service provider in accordance with the teachings disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A system and method are disclosed for automating network performance reporting. In some cases, the reporting may be provided to a customer and/or to a customer support department. Depending upon implementation detail, a system incorporating the present teachings may include a passive listening device configured to monitor portions of a communication network. A performance database may be coupled directly and/or indirectly to the passive listening device and configured to store network performance data.

A customer relations module may be set up to receive a subscriber inquiry and to identify at least one component of a communication network that affects the subscriber. The module may retrieve relevant performance data on identified components of the communication network to provide customer-specific communication performance data to the subscriber and/or an agent assisting the subscriber. In one configuration, the passive listening device can be configured to monitor at least one performance characteristic of a communications network component and to output a plurality of signals representing the performance characteristic. A customer relations management module may be configured to manage customer connection data, to create a list of components used by a given subscriber, and to identify and provide a status of components that have or continue to affect the service provided to the given subscriber.

Referring to FIG. 1 an illustrated system 100 for detecting network performance and providing customer specific performance data to a customer via a customer relationship management module 124 is provided. As depicted, system 100 may help support subscribers and include client interaction interfaces such as e-mail interface 104, telephone interface 106, mobile/wireless interface 102, utilizing antennae 103, and/or Internet interface 108.

System 100 may be implemented by and/or in connection with a communications network-like wide area network (WAN) 110 that facilitates the coupling together of a plurality of service providers such as Internet Service Provider (ISP) 114, power company 116, local Telco provider 118, wireless service provider 112, and messaging service provider 122. System 100 may also include a service bureau offering that assists in near real time tracking of network performance for individual subscribers. As depicted, this service bureau may include a local area network (LAN) 128 interconnecting several components such as customer relationship management module 124, passive listening device interrogator 120, activity database 126, and agent 130.

In an illustrated embodiment, passive listening device interrogator 120 may include a specialized server for locating, addressing, and receiving information from various passive listening devices (PLDs) such as stand-alone PLD 150 located within WAN 110. As depicted, WAN 110 could take several forms including the Public Internet. Depending upon how a designer elects to implement system 100, various components of WAN 110 may have PLDs installed within them. For example, each of the depicted service providers and each of the subscriber interface mechanisms could contain at least one PLD. Stand-alone PLDs may also be installed at pre-defined critical locations. These PLDs may be configured to periodically transmit status information over WAN 110, and/or the PLDs may be responsive to interrogation by PLD interrogator 120.

When a subscriber experiences perceived problems in communicating via WAN 110 and/or some other network, the subscriber may call a customer service department and be placed in contact with customer relationship management module (CRMM) 124. CRMM 124 may be designed to include an auto-response system and a database maintaining customer information such as customer account information. In operation, CRMM 124 may receive a call and based on “call data” received with the call such as CallerID, a CRMM 124 database may be accessed to determine additional information about the subscriber. The additional information can include, for example, subscriber location, the services provided to the subscriber, the communication path servicing the subscriber, and/or a list of PLD monitored components providing service to the subscriber.

Utilizing the customer/subscriber specific information, activity database 126 may be accessed over LAN 128. In some implementations, CRMM 124 may request activity data specific to one or more of the monitored components, which may be components of WAN 110 that supply/support the subject subscriber. Activity database 126 may respond to the request by providing information reflecting the performance of monitored components. The information may be updateable. For example, passive listening device interrogator 120 may send queries to distributed PLDs, receive data from component-based PLDs throughout WAN 110, and write some portion of the received data to activity database 126.

In one instance, PLD interrogator 120 may send periodic queries to PLDs throughout WAN 110. PLD interrogator 120 may also send near-real-time queries to implicated PLDs throughout WAN 110 in response to a particular subscriber inquiry. PLD interrogator 120 can operate on the received data and communicate the network status and/or component status to CRMM 124. Thus, when CRMM 124 requests information specific to a customer/subscriber, activity database 126 may provide historical customer-specific performance data to CRMM 124. In addition, CRMM 124 may also gather additional real-time data. This may not be the only way information is input into activity database 126. For example, outside plant personnel, network status organizations, and/or others may also provide or key-in information to activity database 126.

If CRMM 124 can identify a component in WAN 110 that is under-performing and/or has a significant degradation, the news of this network problem may be sent to the subscriber making the inquiry utilizing an auto-response system. System or component degradation may be hierarchically ordered by CRMM 124 in order of occurrence (date and time), probability of causing a problem, and/or severity. Subject matter in a subscriber query may be linked to an occurrence utilizing a failure analysis, and CRMM 124 may automatically reply to the subscriber request via a communication interface linked to or with WAN 110.

In some cases, the reply to a subscriber may be customer-specific system performance status even when the system is operating within its specified limits. An auto response that provides system performance may be provided to the subscriber based on real-time actual performance, a derived performance characteristic, or a high probability that a component within a communication system has caused unacceptable performance, and/or some other metric or data. In the event that a subscriber inquiry is relatively complicated, the inquiry may be sent from CRMM 124 to agent 130. As such, agent 130 may have access to activity database 126 via LAN 128, and CRMM 124 may automatically provide agent 130 with a list of system performance characteristics that come from distributed PLDs and are subscriber-specific. Although only one agent is illustrated, CRMM 124 may be configured to supply hundreds of agents.

In practice, CRMM 124 may store historic communication responses to subscriber inquiries. As such, in some cases CRMM 124 may determine with a high probability what the problem is for a given subscriber circumstance and provide an inquiring subscriber with a “canned” response. In practice, responses may be assigned confidence levels based on how likely the response is to cover the subscriber inquiry. When the confidence level is low, the inquiry can be routed to agent 130 for manual processing; when the confidence level is high the auto response system can automatically respond.

The system disclosed may utilize many different methods to monitor the communication network 110. A stand-alone PLD 150 or any PLD may use monitoring technologies based on, for example, anomaly detection, heuristics, traffic pattern analysis, application analysis, payload analysis, code violations, as well as passive listening and/or active listening. In some embodiments, an appliance or stand-alone PLD 150 may provide for near-real-time analysis of usage, availability, and performance for applications and services running across public and private networks. For example, stand-alone PLD 150 may measure response times for Internet Protocol applications, network applications, and/or other Web applications. Depending upon implementation detail, stand-alone PLD 150 may be coupled to a port on a data center switch. In some applications, stand-alone PLD 150 may be located behind a corporate firewall, it may track and analyze network activity and usage, and generated information may be stored in a repository or database.

Utilizing stand-alone PLD 150 in combination with activity database 126 may allow agents 130 and technicians to more quickly identify and resolve network problems. In operation, localizing a problem may be accomplished by considering, for example, the interdependencies of a larger network. In effect, such a solution may narrow down the search for customer-specific performance data to a particular component or platform. When a subscriber calls for service, they may be asked questions about their problem. Utilizing an interactive-voice-response system (IVR) the system may be able to learn more about the subscriber's problem and pinpoint a malfunctioning device. Moreover, call-center support personnel may be informed of the problem and made aware of customers who could be impacted by the problem—allowing call center personnel to proactively notify potentially affected customers.

Referring now to FIG. 2 a method of operation that may be used in connection with system 100 of FIG. 1 is illustrated. The method starts at 202 and proceeds to 204 where a subscriber submits an inquiry to a service provider. Data can be gathered regarding the inquiry such as a CallerID telephone number, an e-mail address, and account number, or a MAC address of the subscriber. Additional data may be gathered from prompting the caller and storing caller responses. Additional data can include details about the phenomena surrounding the caller's problem such as slow speed, inoperability, intermittency or whether the problem is reoccurring. This information can be utilized to help diagnose and isolate the cause of the problem.

The subscriber information may be stored at step 206; at decision step 208 it may be determined whether the subscriber can be accurately identified. If the subscriber cannot be accurately identified, then a failure may be recorded at step 212 and additional information may be requested at 210. The method may then proceed back to step 206. If the subscriber can be identified, the monitored components that supply the subscriber with communication services may be identified at step 214. At step 216, the monitored network components that are linked to the subscriber may be queried for past performance and possibly current performance problems. A reply to the subscriber may be created from a library of replies based on component performance at step 218. A confidence level may be assigned to each reply at step 220 based on the likelihood that a reply provides useful information. If the confidence level for a given reply is above a predetermined value, the method may proceed to reply at step 226 where the reply is sent. If the confidence level of the reply is less than a predetermined level, the inquiry may be routed to an agent at step 224 and the process ends at step 228.

The above-disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments that fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description. 

1. A system for providing automated customer support comprising: a passive listening device configured to monitor a performance characteristic of at least a portion of a communication network and to output a signal; a performance database communicatively coupled to the passive listening device and configured to store a piece of information in response to receiving the signal; and a customer relations management module configured to receive an identifier associated with a subscriber inquiry, to identify at least one component of the communication network that affects a service of the subscriber, and to collect performance data associated with the at least one component from the performance database.
 2. The system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one component has at least one operating parameter and the at least one operating parameter can deviate from an average performance to a minimal performance, wherein the customer relations management module retrieves the minimal performance data.
 3. The system as in claim 2, wherein the customer relations management module retrieves a plurality of minimal performance data from a plurality of network components.
 4. The system as in claim 1, further comprising an agent station wherein an agent at the agent station is provided customer-specific communication performance data based on the subscriber inquiry.
 5. The system of claim 1, further comprising generating a list of probable responses to the subscriber inquiry based on one of an analysis of data located in the performance database and additional information entered by a caller.
 6. The system of claim 5, further comprising assigning a relevance level to the probable responses.
 7. The system of claim 6, further comprising automatically responding to a subscriber inquiry when the assigned relevance level is greater than a predetermined level.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the passive listening device is coupled to one of a subscribers computer, a subscriber's modem, a service platform, a power monitor, a network traffic monitor a status-reporting organization, a server monitor, a memory monitor, a router, a switch, a hub, a VoIP system, an add delete multiplexer, a messaging system, a wireless communication cell, a maintenance records department, service records, call records, weather data, a code violation monitor and a quality-of-service monitor.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein data in the database is linked to the caller by one of a geographic location, subscriber connection data, and list of services provided to the subscriber.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of passive listening devices distributed throughout communication networks.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the passive listening device is coupled to a port on a data-center switch.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the passive listening device is located behind a firewall.
 13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a network appliance that comprises the passive listening device.
 14. A method for providing customer service comprising: storing in a memory network performance data collected with a passive listening device; receiving an identifier associated with a subscriber inquiry; linking the identifier to a portion of the network-performance data; and utilizing the portion of network performance data to generate a relevant response to the subscriber inquiry.
 15. The method of claim 11, further comprising automatically providing the relevant response to the subscriber inquiry.
 16. The method of claim 11, further comprising communicating the relevant response to a subscriber in near real time.
 17. The method of claim 11, wherein the network performance data stored is historical data that is younger than a predetermined age.
 18. The method of claim 11, further comprising: classifying the subscriber inquiry as a subscriber network performance issue; and identifying a network component that could affect the subscriber network performance.
 19. The method as in claim 15, wherein a plurality of stored information indicates that more than one network component provides unacceptable performance, further comprising ranking the more than one network component by a level of unacceptability.
 20. The method as in claim 15, further comprising initiating display of a list comprising the network component to an agent.
 21. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating a list of probable responses to the subscriber inquiry based on data located in the performance database.
 22. The method of claim 15, further comprising assigning a relevance level to the probable responses.
 23. The method of claim 15, further comprising automatically responding to a subscriber inquiry when the assigned relevance level is greater than a predetermined level.
 24. The method of claim 15, further comprising monitoring at least one of a subscribers computer, a subscriber's modem, a service platform, a power monitor, a network traffic monitor, a status reporting organization, a server monitor, a memory monitor, a router, a switch, a hub, a VoIP system, an add delete multiplexer, a messaging system, a wireless communication cell, a maintenance records department, service records, call records, weather data, a code violation monitor and a quality-of-service monitor
 25. The method of claim 15, further comprising linking the caller to network status by one of geographic location, connection data, and subscriber services utilized.
 26. A method for providing customer service comprising: receiving a user inquiry related to a performance characteristic of a network; passing an identifier associated with the user inquiry to a network performance system that comprises an appliance having a passive listening device, the identifier operable to identify a portion of a network relevant to user inquiry; and receiving information from the appliance that indicates a potential issue affecting the performance characteristic.
 27. The method of claim 26, wherein the identifier comprises CallerID information.
 28. The method of claim 26, further comprising receiving the user inquiry via an interactive voice response (IVR) system.
 29. The method of claim 26, further comprising receiving the user inquiry via a website.
 30. The method of claim 26, further comprising receiving the user inquiry via a Plain Old Telephony Service (POTS) call.
 31. The method of claim 26, further comprising receiving the user inquiry via a Voice over Internet Protocol call.
 32. The method of claim 26, wherein the network performance system further comprises a database maintaining network performance data.
 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the network performance system further comprises a performance application operable to consider the maintained network performance data and to output a list of potential network problems. 